The War of the Stars
by KBerry
Summary: Rose and the Doctor discover that aliens are preparing for war with Earth as their battlefield, and must find a way to stop it. But, naturally, Darren, Mr Crepsley and Harkat end up right in the middle of it, as if they didn't have enough to deal with! How will they react to the Doctor? How will the Doctor react to the vampires? And how will they stop the war! Read to find out ;
1. WHAT!

**Hey! I've wanted to do this for a while, so here it is! A Darren Shan saga and Doctor Who crossover! It's set around book eight in the Darren Shan series, and just...somewhere in Doctor Who. Obviously it's when Rose was the companion (and yes, it's the tenth Doctor-who else?) Now, the plot idea I got from Doomsday with...well, you'll see! And if it seems a bit random at first, everything will become clear later.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, The DSS/CDF series, or Back to the Future.**

***This story is dedicated to timeandcirque, because she loves Doctor Who and DSS as well, and it's great to have someone to talk to about it! Check out her crossover 'Destiny of the Doctor'!***

**So without further ado, it's chapter one!**

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Rose asked casually as she flipped a switch on the TARDIS console.

"Technically, you just did anyway," the Doctor replied, grinning. "But you can ask something else if you want."

"Smart ass," she muttered, and he smirked. "Anyway, I was wondering…do you know what's going to happen? You know, in the future?" She looked at him curiously for an answer, and he frowned.

"I know a few things," he said slowly. "Most I discover by accident. I never deliberately look for the future, in case I find something out I don't want to, or ruin the surprise…" he looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"No reason, exactly-"

"I have had COUNTLESS people come to me and ask me how they die and if I can save them, or people asking me if they'll ever get married, if they'll ever have kids-"

"Doctor-"

"…how does the universe end, who killed Archie Mitchell-"

"Doctor, I-who did kill Archie Mitchell?"

"Stacey. Anyway, the point is, whatever you want to know, the answer is absolutely NO with a capital 'N'. And an exclamation mark!" He pinged a bell on the console for extra emphasis and glared at her sternly. "Understood?"

"Yes," she said stiffly, and looked down. "There's no need to get so snappy." He raised his eyebrows.

"Oh really? Remember that time I took you back to see your father? And when you saw the world end, I know for a fact that if there was a massive red button with a sign saying 'Will stop the Earth ending regardless of any terrible consequences', you would have pressed it!"

"I've learnt my lesson!" she said, looking hurt. "And as if there'd be a button for that."

"It was just an example to make things easier for your human brain! Fine, I'll show you a more complicated scenario and illustrate the exact chain of how every little thing changed can affect something else on a much bigger scale!" he said. "With destructive and terrible consequences coming from what at first seemed to be a mild and harmless amount of interference!"

"Go on then!" Rose snapped, exasperated. "I'm sure I can keep up!"

"Fine!" he said, and pulled a box out from under the floor panels. "But first you'll need a DVD player," he said, chucking a box set at her. She looked at it and sighed, then held it up.

"This is 'Back to the Future'."

"I know. Cracking film."

"Look, the only reason I wanted to know if you could see the future was because I was wondering if it ever got boring. Knowing exactly what was going to happen."

"I don't know what's going to happen. Things can change sometimes, and I try not to spoil it for myself most of the time," he replied. Then he frowned. "But sometimes…the TARDIS picks up on certain points in time. They're normal totally unimportant-or seem to be-but there's an odd flux of some sort. And that event then leads to another massive point."

"But that's just how it works," Rose said, but she sounded uncertain. "Isn't it?"

"Yes," he agreed, then leant across the console and said darkly. "But the TARDIS always picks up on something. Sometimes…it's not natural. Like someone's manipulating space and time." Rose's eyes flickered with worry, then the Doctor straightened up again.

"Right!" he said, his usual cheerful self again. "Where to next? The planet Flob? I went there once. Weird place, inhabited by these strange creatures that look like they're made of jelly. You don't want to make the mistake of biting one, though, they take offence-"

Suddenly, a loud, wailing alarm went off and red lights flashed in the TARDIS, causing the Doctor's face to collapse with worry and run to the console.

"What is it?" Rose shouted over the alarms, as the Doctor pulled around a screen. He frowned.

"What?" he yelped. "WHAT?"

"What?"

"It's my Earth monitor!"

"Earth monitor?"

"Well, yeah! You're so rubbish at defending yourselves that I have to watch it all the time. Anyway, this is just…impossible!"

"What is?"

"There's an invasion! Not just one but…lots of species. Silurians, Sontarans, Cybermen, Flobbers from the planet Flob-although I doubt they'll do much-and…" he trailed off and looked at Rose. "Daleks."

"But _why?_" Rose asked in horror. "What do they want with Earth?"

"I don't know," he said, then froze as the screen flickered and the sound of alien voices flooded the speakers. "I've got signals from their ships…hang on, let's find one that's easy to understand…" he pressed a few buttons and Rose heard a wibbly sounding voice that she guessed was from a Flobber and the monotone voice of a Dalek before the Doctor settled on one. "Let's hear what the Sontarans have to say."

"We go into battle for the glory of Sontar!" said the voice the Doctor had picked up from the Sontaran ship. "We fight for honour! For victory! To show our enemies that Sontarans are always victorious! Sontar-"

"That's quite enough of that," the Doctor said, flicking a switch. "They could go on for hours…let's try the Cybermen." A shudder passed down Rose's spine as the mechanical droning voice of a Cyberman filled the room.

"We will go to war for the supremacy of the Cybermen with Earth as our battlefield. Delete the opposing species and upgrade the human race-"

"There we go, short and sweet," The Doctor said, turning off the speaker. "They're going to war against each other, not Earth. But Earth is where they're going to fight. Killing two birds with one stone."

"But why Earth?" Rose asked. The Doctor looked at her sadly.

"It's disposable."

"But…we aren't going to let them get away with it, are we?" Rose asked in panic. He didn't reply. "_Doctor?" _He raised his eyebrows at her_._

"…of course not! Rose Tyler, what a low opinion you have of me."

"So…got a plan?"

"Nope."

"An idea at least?"

"Nope."

"Have you got a clue what you're doing at all?"

"…no."

"Well you better get your act together!" Rose said, then frowned. "I feel so sorry for my planet's people right now…"

* * *

*meanwhile, in a hotel room on Earth*

Darren's POV

Suddenly, I jerked awake and bolted upright. From the faint light coming in through the thin hotel curtains I could tell it was about midday. Normally I would be fast asleep, but something had woken me. I felt a great sense of unease as I got out of bed…something was wrong. As I was trying to figure out what, the light from the window suddenly disappeared as a huge shadow passed over it. I hurried past Harkat's sleeping form to the window, took a deep breath, and pulled back the curtains…

…then wrenched them shut again. _No. Way._ Taking a deep breath, I opened them again. It was still there, hovering in the sky, blocking the sun. It wasn't imaging it-the people on the street bellow were screaming hysterically, running around in terror or collapsing on the street, sobbing. A few people even fainted, which was understandable. It was all I could do not to faint myself. I stood there, frozen for a second, before taking the best course of action I could think of.

I ran to Mr Crepsley's room and burst in, then shook him awake (he had to sleep in a bed-the hotel didn't have coffins, funnily enough).

"Mr Crepsley! Get up! Seriously, get up now!" I yelped, my voice full of panic. He rolled over, pulled the covers over his head and grunted for me to go away. _For the sake of the Gods… _"WAKE UP!"

"What?" he snapped, sitting up, looking murderous. "What is it that could possibly be so important in the middle of the day?"

"There-"

"Is it vampaneze?"

"No, but-"

"Are we under attack by humans?"

"No. BUT-"

"Then it cannot be important!"

"Fine!" I said in exasperation, going over to the window. "If you won't listen, look!" And, ignoring his shouts of anger, I ripped the tape from the window to reveal what had shocked and terrified me so much.

"It cannot…what…" Mr Crepsley stuttered, his eyes wide.

"Yes," I said snappily. "There's a bloody massive SPACESHIP outside! Is that important enough for you?"

In response, he leapt out of bed, tripped over a discarded pillow and dashed from the room, yelling at Harkat to get up.

Now _that_ is a rubbish way to be woken up.


	2. The war begins

**Hi! I would have updated sooner, except my laptop got a virus and I lost the next two chapters. Yes, I was annoyed, but I pulled myself together and tried to re-write it. I'm sorry if it's not very good, I was trying to remember what I'd written.**

**If the war doesn't quite make sense yet, don't worry, it will. **

**Thanks to all of you have reviewed! You're all fantastic :)**

**Oh yeah, and just to be clear a rubbish bin is like a trash can, basically. Pretty sure you all knew that, but you know. And that seems completely random, doesn't it? Well, trust me, it fits in with the chapter XD**

**So, here's chapter two!**

* * *

Darren's POV

"It has to be a fake," Mr Crepsley decided. We were staring out of the window at the enormous, bronze, disc-like spaceship.

"I don't think so," I said worriedly. "I wish it was, but it looks real to me."

"But aliens don't…exist, do they?" Harkat asked, his eyes fearful. He looked at me. I looked at Mr Crepsley.

"Well…I suppose there is no reason for it not to be a spaceship," he muttered. My jaw dropped.

"You mean aliens EXIST?"

"Think of it this way. In the entire universe, do you really think that the only life forms that came into being are on the tiny planet Earth?"

"I…well that's…but…" I stammered. This was too much. Vampires, snake boys, Little People-all that I could deal with. But aliens just overstepped the mark. "Do you think they'll kill us?"

"We do not even know who 'they' are yet," Mr Crepsley said, looking thoroughly annoyed that any aliens dared to invade in the middle of the day. "Go and have a closer look, Darren."

"WHAT? Why me?" I asked in panic. Mr Crepsley sighed.

"Because I cannot go out in the sunlight, and the humans will probably assume that Harkat is an alien in their current hysterical state," he explained. Reluctantly, I nodded.

"Fine. Don't feel too guilty if I die," I sniffed as I stormed towards the door.

"Do not worry. I will not."

"I will miss you…Darren," Harkat said. "But you will come back."

"I hope so, Harkat. I hope so." So, with that I left the hotel room, slamming the door behind me (I hope it hurt Mr Crepsley's ears) and ran outside. People were still running around under the ship's enormous shadow like headless chickens, screaming at the top of their lungs. Some people were kneeling in the road, praying. Some were just collapsed on the floor in a sobbing mess.

"IT'S A SPACESHIP!"

"IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"I TOLD YOU ALL THE END WAS COMING AND YOU DIDN'T LISTEN! I TOLD YOU SO!"

"SHUT UP!"

I put my hands over my ears as I pushed through the crowd, trying to get a better look at the spaceship. It was so large that I could only see the underside. No sign of any aliens yet. Then a grinding sound caught my attention. I could tell by the fact that no one else's actions changed that I was the only one who had heard it. Then there was a mechanical whirr, and everyone froze. We all looked up at the spaceship, horrified as a hatch slid open. And another. And another.

People's fear now went beyond screaming. They just stood there, frozen, as something came out of the hatch, that could only be described as looking like a bronze rubbish bin with a dome head with an eye on a stick, a toilet plunger for one arm and a whisk for the other.

"EXTERMINATE!" Before I even realised what was going on a jet of light shot out of the 'whisk' and hit a woman beside me. She didn't even have time to scream before she crumpled to the ground, dead. The screams started up again, louder than before, and there was a flurry of movement as everyone desperately ran for shelter, suddenly creating a stampede. I was jostled from one side to the other as I tried to get back to the hotel, until a large man shoved me over in his haste to escape. People kicked me as I tried to get up-they were too worried about themselves to care that they were trampling me. Then a kind woman stopped, grabbed my hand and hauled me up.

"Run, boy!" she shouted. "Run for your life!" Then she was off. Jets of light kept shooting into the crowd, and more bodies fell. Sickened, I was forced to find shelter in the doorway of a small store. I couldn't get back to the hotel for risk of being singled out by the aliens.

Eventually, the crowd thinned as people found shelter. Some reached their homes, others smashed windows to other people's buildings and broke inside. Then there was nothing but shards of broken glass, the bodies of the dead, and silence. I realised I was shaking, and tried to calm down. I had to keep it together if I was going to survive. I began to think logically about how I could get back. As I was thinking, I began to feel nervous. Something was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Then I realised. The quiet. They'd stopped shooting.

'_Why would they do that_?' I thought anxiously. I strained my ears for any sounds, but ended up picking up on something else. There were vibrations going through the ground. In a sort of beat. After a minute I picked up the sound of metal clanging in unison, like a marching beat...

Cautiously, I peered around the edge of the doorway. My heart clenched with fear. An army of steel men marched from the right, with dark eyes and expressionless faces. I looked to the left-they were coming from that way too.

I was surrounded.

I had two choices: stay here and probably die, or make a run for it and probably die. That is, assuming that the new metal creatures were hostile.

"DELETE," they chanted in a monotone voice that sent a shiver down my spine and made my insides go cold. "DELETE."

Yep…definitely hostile.

* * *

In the TARDIS

"OK," the Doctor said, dashing around the console, pulling and pressing buttons rapidly. "Before we save the Earth, there are two pressing matters we need to attend to."

"Which are?" Rose asked.

"One: I need to find my swishy brown coat. Two: you need to call your mother," he said, picking up Rose's phone from the console and throwing at her. As she caught it, it began to ring. She checked the screen.

"Mum calling."

"Thought so," the Doctor said smugly, then ran off, presumably to find his coat. Warily, Rose accepted the call and held the phone to her ear.

"…Hello?"

"Rose? ROSE? Where are you? What's going on?" Jackie shouted from the other end of the line. Rose held the phone away from her.

"Mum-"

"Are you with the Doctor? Are you SAFE? I was in ASDA doing the shopping when Janine called going on about spaceships, and I said not to be so silly, but when I went outside there it was, clear as day!"

"Mum-"

"I went home and it's all over the news! Different spaceships all over the WORLD Rose!"

"Mum, I know, just let me get a word in!" she snapped, then took a deep breath. "OK. Just stay inside, don't go outside. We're gonna sort it, I promise." She smiled as the Doctor came back in, holding up his coat triumphantly.

"OK, but be safe! Stick with the Doctor-"

"Yeah, bye mum, love you!"

"Bye, remember, be careful-"

Rose cut off the phone and the Doctor smirked.

"You ready?" he asked. Rose nodded.

"Yep."

"Hold on then!" he shouted as the engines started, and Rose grabbed onto a handle. "Full speed ahead! ALLONS-Y!"

* * *

Earth

Darren's (very frightened) POV

As they closed in, still chanting 'delete', I realised that I'd have to run, or I would be cornered in the doorway I was hiding in. If I had to fight, at least it would be out in the open where I'd have more of a chance.

"HUMANS WILL NOT ESCAPE THE CYBERMEN," they said in their droning voices. "YOU WILL SURRENDER FOR UPGRADING OR BE DELETED."

Just as I was preparing to run out to what would probably be my death, a man armed with a wooden bat rushed out of a building towards the 'Cybermen'.

"Get off our planet!" he yelled, and hit the steel monster with a loud clang. But it was no good-the wood didn't even dent its side. The brave but stupid man raised the bat again, but the Cyberman blocked it with his arm.

"DELETE," it said, then clasped the man's shoulders with the metal hand of its free arm. I watched, terrified, as the man screamed in agony and, in a crackle of blue light, slumped to the floor.

_OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE!_

All attempts at being calmed scrapped, I had a panic attack, right there and then in the doorway to a store selling craft materials. The Cybermen got closer, and closer, and as a mad snap decision, I made a run for it.

Sadly there was nowhere to go.

Steel men to the right of me. Steel men to the left.

I was trapped and alone. As they got closer along with my death, one thought crossed my mind.

_Mr Crepsley better feel bloody guilty about this or I'll come back and haunt him._

* * *

In the TARDIS

In a random house

Earth

The Doctor told Rose they'd landed, and she hurried to the door and flung it open, half expecting to see masses of bodies, rivers of dark blood and a fierce battle between creatures from other worlds.

"Um, Doctor?" she asked, and he stepped out after her and frowned.

"Oh. Oops." The TARDIS seemed to have materialised in the middle of someone's living room. Probably an old lady's, Rose thought, taking in the abundance of ornaments, black and white photos and the tatty pink rug.

"Oh well, it'll do," the Doctor said, shutting the TARDIS door behind him. Suddenly, he froze.

"What?" Rose asked, noticing his change. He put a finger to his lips.

"Listen." As she focused, she heard a sound she knew all too well. The sound of the most fearsome army marching in unison, the sound of a metal boot clanging on the ground again and again. She ran to the window and looked outside, then gasped in horror.

"Doctor, there's a kid out there!" she shouted, and he ran to look. There was indeed a boy standing alone in the middle of the road, the Cybermen closing in on him.

"Get in the TARDIS," the Doctor said quietly.

"What? But-"

"I said get in the TARDIS!" he repeated, and he looked around wildly, then grabbed an umbrella out of an umbrella stand. "I've got this." Then, holding the umbrella like a sword, he ran to meet his enemy. Rose stood there in shock as the front door slammed.

* * *

Darren's POV

"OK," I said, putting my hands up in surrender as the Cybermen stopped in front of me. "I don't want to hurt you. I…I surrender."

The Cybermen watched me in silence for a moment with their creepily empty eyes. Then one spoke.

"YOU ARE INCOMPATIBLE," it droned. I frowned.

"What?"

"YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO BE SUBJECTED FOR UPGRADING. YOU WILL BE DELETED." It stepped forwards, and I started to back away, then remembered the ones behind me. I couldn't escape. But I was a Vampire Prince, and I was going to go out fighting. As I prepared myself for a fight to the death, a door banged open and a man in a brown coat ran out of one of the houses, yelling and brandishing an umbrella. I watched, mouth open, as he ran in front of me and faced the Cyberman.

"I warn you," he said, holding the umbrella in front of him. "I'm armed!"

"THAT IS NOT A WEAPON," the Cyberman said. The man grinned.

"Oh yeah?" Then he suddenly rammed the pointed tip of the umbrella into the Cyberman's eye. It screamed in a horrible, mechanic way and fell backwards. The strange man tugged the umbrella back out and turned to me. He grabbed my hand.

"RUN!" he yelled. I didn't need telling twice, and I ran with him back into the house. He shut the door behind us and quickly took a strange looking screwdriver thing out of his pocket. He pointed the glowing blue tip at the door and, with a whistling sound, I heard the lock click.

"That'll hold them for a bit but not for long," he told me, and brushed past me into another room. Trying to cope with the randomness of the situation, I ran after him, and stopped in the doorway, completely struck dumb.

I was standing in the entrance to a living room. And smack bang in the middle of it was a large, bright blue Police Box.

"I…what…how…it…" I spluttered, staring at it. The man smiled at me and threw the umbrella onto the floor.

"So sorry, I should have introduced myself," he said cheerfully, which was odd considering that there was a murderous metal monster outside. "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor," he said, smirking. I gulped.

"I'm Darren. Um. Horston."

"Hello, Darren Um Horston," he said. "I assume you're wondering why there's a Police Box in the middle of the room?"

"Yeah," I said, "and why there are those things outside."

"Cybermen," he said, his expression clouding over. I opened my mouth to ask exactly what a Cyberman was, when there was a loud bang from the hallway, followed by another.

"It's trying to break the door down," he said, running to the Police Box. "Get in here!"

"But…but it's a box-"

"Just get in, unless you want to be deleted," he said firmly, then opened the door and went inside. I heard a loud crunch and the sound of splintering wood as the door caved in, and decided that my best chance lay within that Police Box. So, in a mad panic, I ran inside…

…then ran out again.

"What?" I yelped. The Doctor poked his head out of the door.

"What?"

"It's…It's really big inside!" I gasped. He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, funnily enough, I've noticed," he said, sounding annoyed. "I would explain, but it's really complicated and it's really not the time-"

"DELETE." The Cyberman entered the room, its arm outstretched. "DELETE." I hurried away from it to the Police Box, and the Doctor pulled me inside before shutting the doors.

"Won't it get in?" I asked. He laughed.

"I'd like to see it try. Nothing can get past those doors." I let out a deep, shuddering breath, enjoying the brief moment of calm and safety.

"DOCTOR!" someone-it sounded like a woman-screamed from outside. He flung open the door, and I saw a young blonde girl trying to keep the Cyberman at bay with the umbrella the Doctor had thrown on the floor.

"Rose Tyler, what are you doing out there?" he shouted angrily.

"I went upstairs to check no one was up there!" she shouted back, her eyes still pinned on the advancing Cyberman.

"I told you to wait in the TARDIS!"

"Can you tell me off LATER?" she yelled, chucking the umbrella at the Cyberman and pushing past him into the TARDIS. "Now for God's sake shut the doors!" He shut them, and she leant against a hand rail. Her brown eyes fell on me and she smiled.

"Hi," she panted and held out a hand. "I'm Rose."

"Darren," I said, shaking her hand. The Doctor watched our handshake, then looked up and smiled at me.

"So, Darren," he said. "What do you think of my TARDIS?" I looked around at the towering beams, the panels and the flashing console with a number of buttons and levers.

"It's…great," I said.

"Great?" he repeated, looking insulted. "Great? It's brilliant! Spectacular! Amazing! It's…Rose, another word!"

"Um…fantastic?"

"Fantastic!" he finished triumphantly. I nodded, wondering if he was mad.

"Yeah…um, so what exactly is this tardis?"

"TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he explained. "It's a space travelling time machine." He must have noticed my expression of disbelief, because he added, "Honest."

"How does it work?"

"I can't explain it, you're too human to understand," he said. Rose glared at him, and I shifted uncomfortably. He sat down on a chair and looked at me, suddenly all business. "Now about you. Talk me through what happened out there."

"Well, there was this spaceship," I said. "And this…weird thing came out of it."

"What did it look like?"

"Kind of like a…a bronze rubbish bin," I said lamely. "With a domed top, an eye on a stick and whisk and a toilet plunger for arms." Both the Doctor and Rose blinked at me, then burst into hysterical laughter.

"That was a Dalek," the Doctor said, wiping a tear from his eye. "But never have I heard it described quite like…like…" he started to laugh again, and I frowned.

"It shot someone," I said, and their laughter died away. "And everyone ran to hide. I couldn't get back to the hotel I was staying in because of the hoard of screaming people and had to hide in a doorway. The Daleks went-I don't know where-and the Cybermen arrived. They said anyone who didn't surrender to be upgraded would be deleted. I tried to run for it, but they stopped me and said I was incompatible. Then you came and stopped them." I locked gazes with him. "I need to get back to my friends," I said, and he listened, his face impassive. "They could be in danger. Can you help me?" I waited for an answer. His expression serious, he leant forwards and stared at me.

"Why weren't you compatible?" he asked, looking me up and down.

"What?" I asked nervously.

"Why weren't you compatible?" he repeated. "You should have been. If you're an ordinary human that posed no threat you should have been suitable to be upgraded."

"What does that even mean?" I asked, trying to change the subject. He held his serious gaze for a second, then sat back.

"The Cybermen are people," he said. "Or at least, they were. To create a Cyberman you remove the human brain and put it in a steel suit. Creating an emotionless machine."

"That's horrible," I said, disgusted. He nodded.

"Yes. And that's what would happen if they 'upgraded' you."

"I'd rather die."

"Many others would." There was long silence as we thought about that. Then I asked something that had been bothering me ever since he said I was too human to understand.

"You aren't human, are you?"

"…no. But Rose is."

"Hi," Rose said again, waving. I took a deep breath.

"And you said this was a space travelling time machine."

"Yes."

"You're an alien, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"OK…"I said, trying to keep myself together. "OK…"

"I'm a Timelord," he explained to me. "From a planet called Gallifrey. I'm the last of the Timelords."

"Oh," I said, as he got up pulled down a screen attached the console, avoiding my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," he said distractedly, and there were a series of beeps as information flooded the screen. He let out a low whistle. "Wow…"

"What?" Rose asked curiously, moving to stand beside him and read the information. He looked at me.

"Darren," he said. "Would you mind telling me why my TARDIS has picked you up as not human?"

"I don't know…"I trailed off. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to fool him.

"You mean he's an alien?" Rose asked, looking at me in shock. The Doctor shook his head.

"Oh no. He's not an alien. He's not entirely human either. _He's a half vampire_."


	3. Allonsy!

**Here's the next chapter! It's a bit short, but this is still just the beginning-the real action and classic Doctor Who chaos come in the chapters to come!**

**For anyone who's interested, I've also started a Hunger Games/Darren Shan saga crossover. Check it out if you like the sound of that, and maybe write one yourself-there are only two!**

**Anyway, hope you like this chapter :)**

* * *

"He's…how can…are you serious?" Rose gasped. The Doctor nodded.

"Yep. We have a little Dracula on our hands." I scowled as Rose's hand flew to her neck.

"I'm nothing like Dracula," I snapped. The Doctor put his hands up.

"Sorry, sorry, I was just kidding."

"Well, don't!" I said angrily. "It's not funny!"

"Is he dangerous?" Rose asked the Doctor nervously, and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't think so. From what I know about vampires-"

"You know about vampires?" I interrupted in shock.

"Yep. That's why I checked your biological status-I saw the scars on your fingertips when you shook Rose's hand," he said. Rose looked at him, puzzled.

"What has that got to do anything?"

"It's how he was blooded," he explained. "If a vampire and a human exchange blood, the vampire effectively changes the other. It's most commonly done through the fingertips." He turned to me again. "But I wasn't entirely sure if you were a vampire. When you said the Cybermen rejected you for upgrading I decided to see if my hunch was right. And it was-I'm rarely wrong," he finished smugly. Rose looked even more confused.

"So…do you kill people?" she asked me anxiously.

"No," I said. "We do drink from human's, but not so much that we kill them. That's the Vampaneze-"

"Vampaneze!" the Doctor interrupted. "The group of breakaway vampires. They're a fascinating race."

"How do you know so much about us?" I asked suspiciously.

"I find you interesting," he answered, shrugging. "I studied you and the Vampaneze. That's why I couldn't believe you were a vampire at first. I thought they didn't blood children anymore?"

"They aren't supposed to," I muttered. Rose looked sympathetic, but the Doctor just looked curious.

"How come you're an exception?" he asked.

"Doctor!" Rose hissed, then smiled at me. "Don't answer if you don't want to."

"Right. Sorry," the Doctor said. "One last question though-what are you doing in a city?"

"Well, this is my mentor's city," I explained. "The vampires and the vampaneze are at war, and we were told that we were two of the few who could kill the Lord of the Vampaneze-"

"He's REAL?" the Doctor interrupted excitedly, then coughed as both me and Rose stared at him.

"Anyway," I continued, "we were told to follow our hearts to lead us to him. We heard of murders in this city, so came here to see if we could stop them." The Doctor nodded.

"Right. I'm very sorry to hear you're at war, by the way."

"Thanks." There was a long, serious pause before the Doctor perked up again.

"Well, Rose and I need to get back to saving the world, so if you'll just tell us the name of wherever you're staying I'll drop you off." I told him the name of the hotel, and he started pressing buttons and whiring strange levers, an elated grin on his face.

"You might want to grab onto something," Rose told me, quickly grabbing a pole attatched to the console tightly.

"Why do I have to-" I just had enough time to say, before the TARDIS suddenly jerked alarmingly, causing me to give a shout of surprise before falling backwards onto the floor. I tried to scramble upright, but it was impossible, so I settled for grabbing onto the edge of the console for dear life while remaining on the floor. It was like being in a lift that not only went up and down, but whired around and went from side to side. I wasn't enjoying the experiance.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO OOOOOOO!" the Doctor yelled joyfully, then moved his hand over to a large, black handled lever. "Let's increase the speed, shall we?"

"NO!" Both me and Rose screamed, but it was too late, and the room began to jerk faster and shudder as though being shaken by an enormous and powerful earthquake. Fighting to keep down the contents of my stomach I squeezed my eyes shut, and prayed that we didn't crash land.

"TO THE HOTEL!" the Doctor shouted. "_ALLONS-Y!_"

"WHAT?"

"IT'S FRENCH FOR LET'S GO!"

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST SAY LET'S GO?"

"BECAUSE IT'S NOT AS INTERESTING, NOW SHUT UP AND LET ME CONCENTRATE OR THE TARDIS COULD BURN UP!"

I decided to shut up.

* * *

After a few more minutes of trying not to throw up, the TARDIS finally gave one last shake before coming to a halt. Slowly, I staggered to my feet, my head spinning. Rose blew her blond hair out of her eyes and glared at the Doctor, who was standing with his hands in his pockets, staring around in awe.

"I never knew it could go that fast," he said in wonder.

"Never, EVER do that again," Rose grumbled.

"Oh come on, it was fine!" he insisted. Rose kept scowling. "No? Not even a little bit...? A teensy, weeny bit fun? There it is!" he said, as Rose failed to fight back a grin. He bounded accross to the doors and flung them open. "Come on then!" He slipped out and we were about to follow, before we heard a loud screech, a smash, and the Doctor's shout of "Sorry!" before he hurried back in and shut the doors.

"Darren," he said. "Is there any chance that your mentor is in fact an old aged woman?"

"Um...no."

"Then I think we've got the wrong room."

I told him the correct room number, and after another terrifying journey (even though it was shorter) we stopped again. This time the Doctor was more cautious, and poked his head out of the door before there was a loud bang and he slammed it shut again. "Well that's just rude!"

"Wrong room again?" Rose asked. He shook his head.

"No, I think it's the right one this time."

"Is there an orange haired man wearing a lot of red?" I asked. He nodded. "Then yeah, it's the right one."

"He has knives."

"Oh."

"He threw one at my head! It nearly hit me, I think it might have taken off some of my hair," he said miserably, running a hand through it. "I liked my hair..."

"I'll go first," I said. "That way we might keep our heads." I walked over to the door.

"Be careful! He might not realise it's you straight away!" the Doctor warned. I got to the door, took a deep breath and opened it slowly.

"AH!" There was a thud as a knife embedded itself in the part of the door where my hand had been just seconds before. "It's me, OK, stop trying to kill me!"

"Darren?" Mr Crepsley asked. Harkat ran in from the other room, holding an axe.

"I've got it-Darren?" he gasped. "You're alive!"

"Only just," I muttered, pulling the knife out of the door. Mr Crepsley's shocked expression quickly changed to one of anger.

"What is going on?" he demanded to know. "Why has a blue Police Box suddenly materialised in the hotel room?"

"Er..well..."

"Allow me to explain," the Doctor said cheerfully, pushing past me into the room. "I'm the Doctor, nice to meet you." He held out a hand for Mr Crepsley to shake. He didn't take it. "No? OK then, that's fine. I'll just give you a greeting nod."

"Who are you?" Mr Crepsley asked in annoyance.

"I told you, I'm the Doctor. That's Rose," he added, as she tentatively came out of the TARDIS. He looked at Mr Crepsley's hair enviously. "That's just not fair."

Both Mr Crepsley and Harkat looked incredibly confused, and in Mr Crepsley's case, extremely irritated. There was a lot of explaining to do.


	4. Is there ever a break from the madness?

**I've updated! Obviously. But still!**

**Thank you so so so much to everyone that's reviewed so far :) **

**The funny thing is whenever I write about the Daleks their theme tune pops into my head. It's awesome! **

**Oh, and I've actually written most of the next chapter, in case you're interested. I've been on a roll! But, depending on exactly how crap the first episode of the new series is, the speed of my updates may go down due to a downward spiral of depression and grief over Doctor Who being butchered. **

**Anyway, here's the new chapter! Allons-y!**

* * *

"How…what…" For once, Mr Crepsley seemed at loss for words as he stared from the TARDIS, to the Doctor (who was once again running his hands through his hair and checking the length), then to Rose. His eyes settled on me. "Tell me what is going on!" he snapped.

"Um…"

"Do you have any bananas?" the Doctor said suddenly. Mr Crepsley frowned.

"What?"

"I need a banana," he said seriously, looking around as though expecting a banana to materialise. "I have a sudden craving for bananas…"

"Well, there's a fruit bowl near the kitchen over there," I said, pointing at the tiny kitchenette. "It's not exactly a kitchen really, just a kettle and a mini fridge, but still."

"Excellent," he beamed and bounded over to look. There was an awkward silence between us.

"Well this is…awkward," Harkat commented. Mr Crepsley scowled, and Rose jumped as if just noticing he was there. She blinked at him.

"Oh, Harkat's a Little Person," I said. She looked puzzled.

"What exactly is a Little Person?" she asked. Before I could attempt to explain, there was a cry of outrage, and the Doctor ran from the kitchenette and over to the window, threw it open, then lobbed something outside like a hand grenade. "And STAY OUT!"

"What was it?" Rose asked in alarm, dashing over to the window and looking down at the street below. The Doctor sniffed.

"It was a pear," he explained. She looked around and raised an eyebrow. "I hate pears!" he said, somewhat defensively.

"Enough of this!" Mr Crepsley snarled. "I demand to know who you are and what is going on!"

"OK! Fine!" the Doctor exclaimed, stomping over. "I'm an alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. That's Rose, my human companion. That," he said, pointing at the TARDIS, "is my space-travelling time machine. It's called the TARDIS and stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Now you see, I'm a good alien, but some very naughty and very deadly aliens have decided to start one massive war on Earth. Before you ask, Darren here was standing in the middle of a road like a stuffed lemon, about to be a killed when I saved him with an umbrella and brought him back here. And yes, I know you're vampires. Anymore questions?"

Mr Crepsley looked like someone had announced the world was a cube.

"I…you travel through space and time?" he asked in disbelief. "That is ridiculous."

"I know it sounds far too amazing to be true, but it is," the Doctor said smugly. Mr Crepsley snorted.

"I still do not believe you."

"Don't then, I couldn't care less," the Doctor said, shrugging. "We've dropped Darren off, so we should be going anyway. Come on, Rose." They turned to go back into the TARDIS.

"Wait!" I called, and they turned back.

"Yes?"

"What are you going to do?" I asked. "I mean, have you got a plan?"

"Nope," Rose muttered, a little bitterly. The Doctor grinned.

"I'll think of something. Always do."

"So we're just supposed to sit here and put all of our faith in you?" I asked. "Just cross our fingers and hope everything goes OK?"

"Yep."

"That's not going to happen," I said determinedly, folding my arms. "I want to help."

"Darren," Mr Crepsley began snappily, but I interrupted him.

"No! I saw what happened out there, people were dropping like flies! This is your city, remember! Your home! This whole world is ours, and these aliens think they can just swoop down and claim it, fight on it, kill people? No way!"

"It's too dangerous," Rose said gently, while the Doctor looked thoughtful. "You could get hurt-"

"I could get hurt down here as well," I said. "And I'd rather be fighting than hiding."

"Me too," Mr Crepsley decided.

"Same here," Harkat said. Rose looked agonised.

"But-"

"Hang on, Rose," the Doctor said, holding up his hand. He was looking at us with admiration, and mild fascination. "They can help if they want." Rose scowled and dragged him into the next room.

"He's just a kid!" I heard her hiss at him, and I sighed in exasperation. "And we don't even know who they are!"

"YOU travel with me."

"That's different."

"How?"

"It just is!"

"We can hear everything you're saying, you know!" I yelled. The Doctor poked his head out of the doorway.

"Oh yeah. Right, so it's agreed? You're coming along?" he asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Try and stop us," I replied, and he grinned widely. Rose didn't look so happy, but she didn't say anything.

"Brilliant! Then if you just step inside the TARDIS and-" He stopped suddenly, fear flickering across his face.

"Doctor?" Rose asked quietly, looking frightened at his face. "What is it?"

"Listen," he said softly. We did. After a few moments, I picked up on a very faint sound. A slight whirring sound…like a machine? Getting closer. No…it wasn't coming forwards…it was coming _up. _

"GET DOWN!" the Doctor yelled and dropped to the floor. As I too instantly fell to my knees, I couldn't help but look to the window. In a split second I saw that it was one of those creatures, a Dalek. It was hovering outside our window, its blue eye staring at us.

"EXTERMINATE!"

I flung myself further down so hard my chin smacked against the floor as a beam of light streaked through the space my head had been half a second before. It blasted a hole in the door, and was followed by even more rays of deadly light.

"TARDIS!" the Doctor shouted, crawling towards it quickly, dropping down as more beams were shot. We all scrambled in that direction, and once the Doctor reached the doors he reached up and swung one open. "Get in! Quickly!" He pulled Harkat inside, and extended a hand to Mr Crepsley. I was nearly there when it happened.

The whole room seemed to explode with a deafening boom, and I immediately curled up and covered my face with my arms as I was showered with pieces of brick. As the last pieces fell, I raised my head slightly. I immediately choked on the dust and started coughing, my eyes streaming. I could just make out a large hole in the wall where the window used to be. The Dalek was still there, obviously having blasted through the wall. Fear shooting through me, I started once again to move to the TARDIS, when I heard a petrified scream from behind me.

_Rose._

She was coated entirely in dust and had a long red gash across her forehead, staring in terror at the Dalek approaching her.

"No!" I got up as quickly as I could and stumbled forwards, still coughing uncontrollably. "No!" I looked around for a weapon, something, anything…

"YOU WILL BE EXTERMI-" The Dalek stopped as the large piece of brick I had thrown clanged against its dome like top.

"Oi! Dalek!" I yelled, brandishing Harkat's axe, which had been left on the floor. I jerked my head at Rose, gesturing for her to move. As the Dalek turned to me she quickly stood and ran to one side.

"YOU ARE DISPLAYING HOSTILE INTENTIONS," the Dalek stated shrilly.

"Duh," I replied.

"YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" It screeched. With no other options, I threw the heavy axe towards to Dalek, praying that it would somehow harm it or at least stop it long enough for us to escape. For one heart-stopping moment I thought I had missed completely, but then the top of the axe struck the eye. The Dalek seemed to almost scream and reversed, rapidly moving its eye stalk. "MY VISION IS IMPAIRED!"

"Darren!" Someone grabbed my arm and I jumped and turned in panic, only to see it was Mr Crepsley. He tugged me to the TARDIS and Rose ran after me. He ran through the door that the Doctor was holding open and I grabbed Rose's hand once she was close enough, making sure to pull her in with us. Once safely inside we collapsed on the floor, gasping for air.

"Rose!" the Doctor hurried over to Rose anxiously and helped her up. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," she choked out, coughing a few times. "I think I breathed in some dust, that's all." She frowned and touched the cut on her head, her hand coming away bloody. "Oh…"

"I don't think it's deep," the Doctor said, inspecting it. "Just clean the dirt away and it should be fine. Maybe put a plaster on it."

"I am _not_ putting a plaster across my forehead," she grumbled. The Doctor looked disappointed.

"That's a shame. I have some very nice pink ones with butterflies on."

"The Dalek's still out there," I said in a slightly raspy voice. The Doctor waved a hand airily.

"It can't get inside, trust me. I already told you, nothing can get into the TARDIS," he said.

"It just blew a hole in the wall of our hotel room," I reminded him.

"Look, nothing can get in. We'll be fine," he reassured me. "Back in a moment." He left the room and went up some stairs, returning with a wad of cloth for Rose. She pressed it against the gash and smiled and me.

"Thanks for helping me out," she said.

"Well, I was hardly going to stand there and let you get exterminated, was I?"

"You see, Rose?" the Doctor said proudly. "This is the sort of person we should have on board. Brave, reckless, and just a little bit silly. I'm sure this lot will be a valuable addition to the TARDIS team."

"…TARDIS team?"

"Well, I like the name." He smirked at me, Mr Crepsley and Harkat. "Welcome to the TARDIS."


	5. Decisions

**I've never written for Doctor Who before, and I just love how to music comes into my mind when I write certain parts XD That was a totally random piece of info. there, but there you go.**

**OK, even I got sad when I ended this chapter. Sorry about that in advance ;)**

**On the plus side, FLOBBERS! There is a Flobber in this chapter! Ah, Doctor Who. Fun and serious somehow. **

**Oh and one more thing:**

**_Pond Life._**

**Some of you know what I'm talking about. Let me just say that I would rather stare at ACTUAL POND LIFE for twenty-four hours rather than spend a couple of minutes watching yet another attempt to make the new Doctor Who seem funny. It could be funny, if they weren't trying so hard. As I said to my friends when I first came accross it, these mini-episodes are like Pilot Fish, leading up to the big scary fish at the end. And that big scary fish is coming, Saturday 1st of September. There is no way to tell yet whether or not it will destroy you and tear you apart or captivate you. We'll all just have to wait and see.**

**Anywho (Ha! Who. I'm in a strange mood today...are there artificial sweeteners in orange squash? Because that's the only thing I can think of that might have started it. Ohhh wait, maybe it's because I just saw that clip where John tells David he has cake...that's probably it, I love that video!) here's the chapter! **

* * *

"OK," the Doctor said, looking like he was having the time of his life while the world was in peril. "Let's see what the situation is, shall we?" He tapped a few buttons and the screen blinked into life, showing a news channel.

"…_Once again London is facing destruction from aliens," _said the serious faced news reporter. _"Only this time, there appears to be a variety of different species, and even reports of them inflicting harm on each other. There have been reports of similar situations across the globe, and evidence of more_ _spaceships to come."_ As she spoke pictures appeared one after the other on the large screen behind her-I saw a Dalek, a group of Cybermen, an odd green creature, a grey-skinned alien that resembled a tall human with a very long neck, and many more. "_If you see any of these creatures do NOT approach them and call this number."_ A string of numbers appeared at the bottom of the screen_. "I urge you all to remain in your homes and keep a radio to hand-more news will be given shortly once we receive more information."_

"In a nutshell," the Doctor said, "they haven't got the faintest idea what's going on. Typically human, acting like you're in control and know everything but really knowing next to nothing. Worse than knowing next to nothing, you THINK you know some things when really you don't."

"So go on then, Doctor. Tell us what's going on," Rose challenged him.

"Haven't got a clue. But I have every intention of finding out! Hold on!"

"Oh no, not again," I groaned, making sure to hold on tight to the edge of the console as the Doctor started up the TARDIS. Mr Crepsley frowned at me.

"What do you mean?" Then, before I could reply, the TARDIS gave an almighty lurch and he went flying backwards onto the floor. Poor Harkat, being smaller than the rest of us, flew right past me. Fortunately he landed on the only chair in the room, and appeared to be OK. I held on grimly as the TARDIS jerked and lurched and spun, wondering why such a high-tech machine didn't even fly properly.

Finally, with a wheezing sound and one final jerk, we landed. Rose, the Doctor and me let go of the console. Mr Crepsley got up from the floor, muttering angrily about machines. Harkat remained in his chair, looking slightly dazed.

"So where are we?" Rose asked the Doctor curiously.

"UNIT!" he replied excitedly, practically skipping over to the doors.

"Wait, what's UNIT?" I asked.

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce," the Doctor replied. "Friends of mine." He turned and smirked at us, one hand on the door. "Time to re-introduce myself, I think. It's been too long." He flung open the doors and stepped outside. Rose smiled at us.

"Come on then!" she said, running over to join him. After exchanging a glance, Mr Crepsley, Harkat and I followed. Once we were outside, I frowned. I didn't know where we were, but it certainly wasn't the base of UNIT.

"Wait…this isn't UNIT, where are we?" Rose asked, looking around the ordinary, albeit deserted street. The Doctor sighed.

"Cardiff," he said miserably. "Why do we ALWAYS end up landing in Cardiff?"

"The TARDIS never lands where it's supposed to," Rose grumbled.

"Oi, that's not far. Nine times out of ten I get it right," the Doctor said. Rose raised her eyebrows. "OK, seven times out of ten." She kept her eyebrows raised. "Five? Fine, FOUR TIMES OUT OF TEN. It's not _my _fault, it's hard to pilot the TARDIS and even then-"

"Doctor-"

"No, Rose, you have so little faith in me, after all I've done-"

"Doctor!"

"Slitheen, Cybermen, Daleks, Gas mask zombies, werewolves, I defeated them all but no, that's not enough for Rose Tyler-"

"For God's sake, just look!" Rose hissed, pointing down the street. "What the hell is it?"

It was indeed extremely odd looking. What looked like an enormous blob of green jelly was wobbling slowly down the street towards us, leaving a trail of goo behind it. It had no eyes that I could see, or a nose or a mouth.

"It's a Flobber!" the Doctor said joyfully. "I love Flobbers!"

"But it's just a blob of goo," I said, staring at it in disbelief. He rolled his eyes.

"It's not 'just a blob of goo', it's a life form built up of a material found deep within the heart of planet Flob. Thousand and thousands of years ago, a kind of massive volcano erupted, shooting the material up. A kind of chemical reaction took place when it reached the surface, and after a few more hundred years Flobbers were created," the Doctor explained. "It's a beautiful thing!"

"That doesn't change the fact that they're blobs of goo," Rose said, and the Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed dramatically.

"Did you not understand anything I just said? How would you like it if I called you a monkey?"

"But I'm not a monkey!"

"Humans are said to have evolved from monkeys, in the same way that the Flobbers were once a blob of goo. So if they're blobs of goo, you're a monkey!"

"And while you have been arguing that blob of goo has been moving towards us," Mr Crepsley snapped. He seemed to be very aggravated-I don't think he liked the Doctor. At first I had thought he was a bit mad, but changed my mind and decided I quite liked him.

"Ah," the Doctor said worriedly. "Into the TARDIS, then."

"But…but it can't hurt us," Rose said, staring at it nervously. "I mean, it doesn't have any weapons or anything."

"A Flobber kills by basically running over anything in its way," the Doctor said hurriedly. "The victim becomes trapped within the Flobber, and is digested."

"Ew," I said simply. He nodded.

"Exactly, and if we don't move now, we're lunch!"

We were about to go back into the TARDIS, when suddenly there was a flash of blue light, and about a dozen of the strangest creatures I'd ever-well, some of the strangest creatures I'd ever seen appeared in the street.

"Judoon," the Doctor said under his breath. The Rhino men, aka, the 'Judoon', all turned to the Flobber, producing guns.

"Get down!" the Doctor commanded, and for the second time in one day I hit the floor. The Judoon shot some kind of red laser at the Flobber, and I certainly didn't expect what happened next. The beams hit the Flobber and disappeared within it, then, after a few seconds, the beams sprung out again and back in the direction of those who shot them. Some Judoon fell, other didn't. Talking rapidly and furiously in whatever language they spoke, the Judoon fiddled with their guns then shot at the Flobber again, all at once. I don't know what they did, but this time it did the trick. Although I almost wish it hadn't.

The Flobber exploded, and we were splattered with disgusting bits of sticky goo. There was a long pause, while slime dripped off us.

"Urgh…" Rose said, looking disgusted as she tried to wipe the slime from her face. "Flobber goo…" I glanced at Mr Crepsley, who did not look at all amused. I stifled a laugh at his appearance. We were all still half covered in dust from the hotel explosion, and now a large amount of bright green goo. Only Harkat had escaped being pelted with bits of Flobber by hiding behind Rose, who had taken the sticky green gunk full in the face.

"There is an upside," the Doctor said brightly, standing and shaking it from his hair like a dog.

"Like what?" Rose asked, wrinkling her nose as she too tried to get it out of her hair.

"Flobbers have quite a large flaw in their design."

"Which is?"

"They happen to taste quite a bit like lemon and lime," the Doctor said, examining a hunk of goo and raising it to his mouth.

"Don't!" Rose yelped, smacking the blob out of his hand.

"Waste not, want not, Rose," he scolded, scooping up some more goo.

"But it's disgusting!"

"Try some," he said brightly, offering his handful to her. She pushed it away.

"No thanks."

"I wish I had never agreed to go with you," Mr Crepsley said, scowling.

"It's not that bad," I said. He only glared at me in response.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Rose shouted. Three Judoon were standing around the TARDIS, pointing some kind of metal pole at it. Even as she shouted, a jet of electric blue light shot out of each of the poles, joined together at the top of the TARDIS and crackled briefly before the whole area around the TARDIS flashed the same colour. The Judoon brought down their metal sticks, but the air around the TARDIS still shimmered faintly with blue.

"Doctor, what did they do?" Rose asked in horror. She tentatively extended a hand towards the TARDIS, but before her hand came into contact the transparent, blue tinted shield darkened and buzzed. "Ow!" With a cry of pain she quickly withdrew her hand. "It's some kind of barrier!"

"What have you done?" the Doctor snapped, stomping over to a Judoon. In response it handed him a slip of paper, before disappearing again with another flash of light.

"What is it?" I asked. The Doctor was staring at the piece of paper in utter disbelief.

"It's a parking ticket," he said.

"A parking ticket?" Rose echoed.

"Yep. Apparently we have parked an 'unlicensed vehicle and have breached the laws enforced on Earth'."

"What?"

"Double yellow lines," he said, staring in dismay at the lines the TARDIS was parked beside. "Basically, we've been clamped."

"They can't just clamp the TARDIS!"

"They can. The TARDIS will override it in a few hours, but until then…"

"I don't understand," I said. "Why did they give you a parking ticket?"

"The Judoon are the police," the Doctor said. "Space police."

"Have they come to help?" Rose asked, and he snorted.

"I doubt they'll actually be much help. They'll probably just end up adding to the bloodshed."

"So we're covered in bits of alien and can't use the TARDIS," Rose said. "Now what?"

* * *

"This was _not_ what I had in mind," Rose said. The Doctor had used his sonic screwdriver to break into someone's garage-which did not contain a car but various other, less desirable means of transport-and Rose was riding a bright pink Barbie scooter.

"I think it suits you," the Doctor said from his relatively ordinary looking red bicycle. Mr Crepsley had been forced to use a purple bike that was slightly too small for him, I was on a skateboard (I'd never quite got to grips with riding one, and I was very wobbly and fell over a lot), and Harkat was riding a little tricycle with rainbow streamers coming out of the ends of the handle bars.

"I'd rather just walk," Rose pressed.

"We'll move slightly faster like this, and every second counts." He looked down at the handle bars, his face lighting up. "Hey, mine has a bell!" He pinged the rusty bell experimentally. "Haha!"

"No," Rose groaned, as he kept pinging the bell over and over.

"You're just jealous because you don't have a bell." At this point I lost control, crashed in the curb and fell off my skateboard for what must have been the hundredth time.

"I agree with Rose," I muttered, rubbing my head where it had connected with the pavement. "I think walking is safer."

"You'll be fine once you get the hang of it," he said.

"We've been travelling for ages," I pointed out, getting back on the skateboard and kicking off. We had arrived in Cardiff at sunset, and the sky had darkened considerably since then. "And where are we going, anyway?"

"Looking for action, aliens, people, anything." Rose braked suddenly and I whizzed past her before I managed to stop myself. Sadly, I did it too suddenly and I fell off. Again.

"You mean you don't actually know where we're going?" Rose asked him as I muttered curses and got back on the board.

"No, but I know what I'm _looking for_."

"Oh good, for a moment there I thought we had nothing to go on."

* * *

Two hours later we were sat on the side of the road, exhausted and fed up.

We hadn't seen anything, and the most action that occurred was when Mr Crepsley went ballistic and ripped the bell from the Doctor's bicycle. The Doctor wasn't at all happy, and in turn used the sonic to remove the wheels from Mr Crepsley's bike, and informed him that he'd have to walk the rest of the way. We weren't a happy group.

"I think I'm dying," Rose moaned, lying back on the ground. "How long have we been looking?"

"Just two hours or so," the Doctor replied chirpily. "Honestly, you're so unfit."

"I can't get back on that skateboard," I groaned. "I think I might have a concussion."

"But vampires are supposed to have a great sense of balance!" the Doctor said. "It should be easy!"

"It's not that, more staying balanced and steering it and stopping…Oh, it's harder than it looks," I snapped, giving the board a reproachful kick so it flipped over.

"Everyone's so stressy today," the Doctor said to himself. "Right! Everyone, on your feet!"

Rose mumbled something, her eyes still shut as she lay on the ground. Mr Crepsley was sulking with his back to us, and even Harkat looked downhearted.

"Well…er…let's have a five minute break then."

"Doctor, it's cold, and it's night," Rose complained, sitting up. "I'm tired."

"Go to sleep then. Here," he said, taking off his coat and chucking it at her. "Use that as a blanket."

"I think we should find a hotel or something," she said.

"We'll never find one that'll take us, everyone's on red alert."

"Let's go back to the TARDIS, then," she suggested. "It must be unclamped by now."

"We could," he said. "But we'd have to get back first." Rose made a sound that was halfway between an agonised groan and a sob.

"What else do you suggest?"

* * *

*no one's point of view*

It was early morning, and the light grey sky was softly tinted with pink and orange. Birds chattered and called to each other from the roof tops of Cardiff, and not a soul could be seen walking the streets.

The sun rose steadily, throwing light onto even to the shadowy alley behind a dilapidated pizza place, where a mountain of squashy, stinking bin bags lay, and empty pizza boxes lined the cobbled ground. One of the black, rubbish filled bags shifted slightly, and the head of a young man popped out of the pile like a mole out of a hole.

"Morning!" he said cheerfully, patting the bags beside him. "Come on everyone, rise and shine!" About three more bags fell as a blonde girl sat up drowsily.

"I can't believe we slept here," she muttered, then nervously sniffed her hair. She pulled a face. "Urgh, I stink!"

"What did you expect? We did just sleep on about a week's worth of rotting rubbish," the Doctor said, stepping out of the pile with difficulty and brushing down his suit. "It was your choice. We could have just gone back to the TARDIS."

"Now we just need breakfast," Rose said hopefully.

"I'm sure you could find something edible if you rummaged about for a bit."

At that moment, Darren sat up and yawned, a piece of tomato stuck to the side of his face. He frowned and peeled it off.

"Well, that was disgusting," he commented.

"Tell me about it," Rose said. "I think a rat ran over me." Darren crawled over to a large cardboard box and shook it gently.

"Harkat? Harkat, it's time to get up." The Little Person came out of the box.

"Good, I want to get…going," he said. "We need to hurry before…the sun fully rises." Darren glanced at Mr Crepsley, who was sitting at the edge of the alleyway. He'd been there all night, refusing to sleep and watching for threats of the alien kind.

"Better get a move on then!" the Doctor exclaimed, already rushing over to his bike. Rose smiled weakly, but couldn't enjoy herself. She kept thinking of her mother and whether she was all right…

"Are you OK?" Darren asked, coming up beside her. Her worry must have shown on her face.

"Yeah, it's just…I'm worried about my mum," she replied, her voice breaking a little. "I think I'll call her. Just to check she's all right." She pulled out her phone and selected 'mum' from her contacts list. She held the phone to her ear while it rung. And rung. And rung. Finally, there was a short pause and a crackle, followed by a recorded message.

_Hi, this is Jackie, sorry I can't take your call, please leave your message after the beep!_

"Mum?" Rose said, taking a deep breath. "Just call me, OK? Pick up the phone, I need to know you're all right." She paused for a moment, then disconnected and snapped her phone shut.

"Rose?" the Doctor called. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," she called back. "I'm coming..."

* * *

Darren's POV

Rose worrying about her mother had reminded me of something. Something that made me feel guilty and sick with worry. I had a family too, and right now they were in danger. I may not have seen them for years, but they were still out there, terrified as their whole world crashed around them. Were they even still alive? It seemed quiet here, but if things in my hometown were as bad as in Mr Crepsley's city…

But there was only one thing I could do. Stick with the Doctor. That was my best chance of finding out what was going on, and my best chance of stopping it.

We began making our slow way back to the TARDIS, with the sun rising higher and higher. I was just getting the hang of riding the skateboard, when Mr Crepsley flung out and arm and I flipped right over and landed heavily on my back.

"Ow," I said, glaring at him pointedly from the ground. He ignored me and turned to face the Doctor, who braked and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Darren and I are going to flit ahead," he announced. Typical. Just when was getting to grips with riding the skateboard he decides this. "The sun will burn me if I remain in the open much longer."

"You can't get in the TARDIS without a key," Rose pointed out. The Doctor stared at Mr Crepsley, seeming to be debating something.

"OK," he decided. "You can borrow the key. Besides, it's not like you can fly it." He looked to Rose and held out his hand. "I'll give him yours. You'll get it back afterwards." She looked reluctant, but pulled a small silver key from her jeans pocket and placed it in his palm. He chucked it to me, and I caught it one handed and examined it. It just looked like an ordinary key, nothing special. It certainly wasn't what I would have imagined the key to an alien time machine to look like.

"Thank you," Mr Crepsley said, already turning his back on them. "Come on, Darren." With one last glance at the Rose, Harkat and the Doctor (Rose and Harkat smiled and waved, and the Doctor was smirking at me in an odd, almost knowing way) I went after Mr Crepsley, and we flitted.

When he reached the TARDIS-still standing on the double yellow lines, looking very out of place on the streets of Cardiff-he stopped. I hopped off and went to open the doors, but he grabbed my arm to stop me.

"…what?" I asked. He looked serious.

"We are leaving," he said. I stared at him for a moment, taking in what he'd just said.

"But…why?"

"This man clearly has no idea what he is doing," Mr Crepsley said angrily. "And this is no time to play games."

"I think you should give him a chance," I said quietly.

"I did, and we were involved in an explosion, an alien attack and spent the night on a heap of rubbish," he said stubbornly. "We should return to the mountain and inform the other Princes of the current situation, if they do not already know."

"I…well…what are we supposed to do with the key?" I asked, holding it up. "We can't just leave it lying around!"

"We could take it with us," he said, shrugging. I paused. I didn't want to leave.

"And what about Harkat?" I asked, suddenly thinking of him. "He can't leave him behind!" Mr Crepsley looked thoughtful.

"I will flit and find somewhere nearby to shelter from the sun. You can wait for the others to return, inform Harkat of the situation then leave with him to meet up with me." My heart sunk at the idea of telling the Doctor we were leaving and having to explain why, or even sneaking away with Harkat.

"I honestly think our best chance is to stick with the Doctor," I said firmly. "Even if it seems like we're not really doing anything, I think he knows what he's doing."

"You may stay," Mr Crepsley said. "You do not have to return with me." He was right. What I did and where I went was entirely my choice. A part of me didn't want to part with Mr Crepsley-it felt wrong somehow. But another part of me wanted to stick with the Doctor, and at least try to fight against the invading aliens and protect the Earth. After a few minutes of weighing up my options, I realised that either way there would be downsides, and I decided to go with what I really wanted to do at that moment, and not think about how I would feel later.

"I think…I'm going to stay," I said. Mr Crepsley nodded.

"OK then. I will inform the Princes of your decision." He started to walk away, and I felt a surge of something like panic.

"No, wait!" I called, and he stopped and half looked around.

"Yes?"

"I'll…I mean…I'll come back," I said quickly. "When this is all over I'll get the Doctor to take me back to the mountain." There was a very long silence, in which too many emotions to handle ran around in my mind, all battling for superiority. Guilt for breaking away from Mr Crepsley, if only temporarily. Guilt for not returning to help the clan. Annoyance that Mr Crepsley wouldn't stay. A need to remain here and finish what I started. Then he said something that I hadn't even thought about.

"And what if you die?" he asked, stunning me. "What if you are shot and killed? What then?"

"I…I suppose the Doctor will tell you," was the only thing that I could think to say. "Look, I know it'll be dangerous. But I feel like I should try and help."

"…I see," he said, while I stood by the TARDIS-the small key still clutched in my hand-feeling extremely awkward. "Then I wish you the best of luck."

"You too," I said, then, without really knowing what else to say but knowing this wasn't it, added, "Bye then."

"Goodbye. Even in death may you by triumphant." And on that worrying note, he turned again, began to run, then disappeared in a blur. I watched the space where he had seemingly vanished, already feeling the weight of guilt and regret settling over me. I became aware that the key was cutting into my hand, so I turned to face the TARDIS and unlocked the door. I slipped inside, and walked aimlessly over to the console, my footsteps making a slight clanging sound on the metal floor. After looking around the cavernous, alien room from a few seconds, I sat down and waited in silence for the Doctor to return, wondering if I had made the right decision.

* * *

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